Crafts: Candles

February 07, 2019

A Jewish Henna party? Yes indeed dear readers, Jews from places like North Africa/Morocco, Yemen, and even Iran do have the tradition of a henna ceremony sometime before the wedding. The main difference between the Jewish henna ceremony and the henna ceremonies I've seen from India is that the Jewish ceremony does not involve drawing designs, rather a large round mark is made on the hand with the henna, and there are even little round badges with ribbons that are used to tie the henna to the palm as it must be held in place for a while in order to leave a mark. The three hebrew letters that spell henna are chet, nun and hay, and those are the first letters in the words that spell the three mitzvot that are exclusive to women. These three mitzvot are Challah, Niddah and Haladkat Neros, meaning taking the challah portion (with a blessing), observing family purity, and lighting shabbat candles.

My neighbor's daughter got engaged last week, so I was recruited to help with decorations for the Henna portion of the evening.......needless to say I had everything on hand and everyone was thrilled with my efforts, which I'll be sharing with you here, well a few photos in any case. Before I realized that I needed a largish centerpiece as the tables at the hall are huge, I came up with the idea for this sweet centerpiece, and truthfully you can take this idea and use it for any theme you like. Let's get started shall we?

December 12, 2018

After eight joyful nights of Hanukkah, shining light into the very darkest corners, you might just have some leftover candles? (We light our main Chanukah menorah using olive oil, but use candles for some smaller chanukiahs.) Don't toss them, spend a few moments of pressure-free creativity, and create something with the drips. This of course is only with adult supervision, or for teens, and maybe even Mom or Dad could use a little creative time after a hectic week-plus of celebrations? (Don't worry about me, I know how to take that time when possible, you should see my kitchen table right about now......) So instead of trying to save those candles for next year, or tossing them, lets bring more light into the world through creativity!

June 22, 2018

This past week I discovered while substitute teaching for a candle making workshop that doodling on candle jars can be a wonderful way to turn candlemaking into something truly wonderful and unique. While I was thinking about doodling a cityscape of Jerusalem on the jars, one of my students did this sweet doodle pattern, which was one of the better efforts. The only boy in the group drew the stones of the Western Wall on his glass which was also quite successful while others wrote blessings or their names. I'm quite sure you can think of a long list of ways to decorate your glasses or jars filled with colorful wax, so get inspired and start crafting! Even a solid color candle could be a great backdrop for some creative doodles, right?

Remember making candles at summer camp? I sure do, especially the ones we made at the beach in milk cartons! Candle making can be on the messy side, but is a perfect craft to do especially when you have a few hours on a lazy summer afternoon, and a bunch of kids (or kids at heart) in need of some creative fun! The candles you see here were actually made by some of my students in a candle making workshop for which I was the substitute teacher. Unfortunately I did not have the time to take photos of all the projects as my students stayed for two hours rather than one, and then needed to hurry off to their bus, so be it! Now I'm hoping to find some time to make some striped candles myself. I'm thinking that a remake of my remember Jerusalem sand jars would be perfect with striped candles, just in time for the Three Weeks.

Ah yes, and best of all, making candles has never been simpler, so lets get started!